What happen to Lars?

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Frank Fox

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As all of you know - in 2008 Lucas Ordonez (PSN: LucasOrdonezSPA) won the first GT Academy, but, very few of you know that there was another winner - Lars Scholmer (PSN: l1a2r3).

I read that he won and he was going to go to Dubai 24h but he didn't, what happen to him?

NISSAN GLOBAL
03 September 2008: GT Academy, an international driving competition from PlayStation® and Nissan, has found its winners following a gruelling, week-long international final at iconic British racetrack Silverstone. 28-year old Lars Schlömer, from Germany and 23-year old Lucas Ordoňez from Spain beat 20 other competitors from across Europe to be crowned the GT Academy champions. The pair now face a four-month intensive training programme with Nissan's race team to earn their racing license and compete in the ultimate test of driving skill and stamina: the Dubai 24hr endurance race in January 2009.
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Perhaps he didn't pass his racing license and then they felt he would be a liability if he was to come having gotten it at a repeat?
 
Wasn't it in the program that he fell ill at the brands hatch night race, so didn't compete and they then felt he didn't have enough experience in the night to compete at the Dubai 24 hour? Don't quote me on that, but I'm pretty sure something like that happened :S?
 
According to a post by Darren Cox of Nissan, illness forced Lars to miss a session of training in the Dubai-spec 350Z (I've heard tell it was a night practice session - but that's just rumour) and this lead to him being excluded from the race on safety grounds.

I have no idea what he's done since, sadly.
 
I've no idea, hence I'm asking here.
I've read rumors and speculations but no concrete facts.

EDIT:
So basically he got sacked because he missed one session? That's seriously weak.
 
I wouldn't say it was weak, it was the first ever attempt at this and missing 1 session which was a pretty big session (Night experience) would have meant that they would have felt very very nervous. I'm sure the competition learnt alot from this :)!
 
I heard from a reliable source that he couldn't stop over revving the engine during downshifts. That he supposedly just couldn't get it done properly for some reason. Sounds trivial, but this is what I heard from another 2008 finalist.
 
Frank Fox
I've no idea, hence I'm asking here.
I've read rumors and speculations but no concrete facts.

EDIT:
So basically he got sacked because he missed one session? That's seriously weak.
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That's a leap.

What I said was he was excluded from the Dubai 24hr on safety grounds. Nobody said anything about him being sacked. I know he attended the race, even if he didn't drive in it.
 
Wait, wait... GTA winner doesn't win a contract, but only attendance at Dubai 24h?
Or so they say, so that they don't oblige themselves to contract a driver which has proven unsatisfactory to Nisan after the contest has ended.
In other words, the rules protect them, so they can technically ditch a driver after he has won the contest?
 
Hang on a minute. You said you'd only read rumours and speculation and now you're making things up?

We know he didn't get to race at Dubai. Darren Cox said it was because illness forced him to miss a session and he was excluded on safety grounds. We don't know anything that has happened since - so from where are you getting him being sacked/ditched on the basis of being unsatisfactory?
 
Frank Fox
Wait, wait... GTA winner doesn't win a contract, but only attendance at Dubai 24h?
Or so they say, so that they don't oblige themselves to contract a driver which has proven unsatisfactory to Nisan after the contest has ended.
In other words, the rules protect them, so they can technically ditch a driver after he has won the contest?
Click to expand...

It works just like the rest of the world does. The competition does its best to select the guys with the right stuff but still with the contingency that they can still drop them if their performance in the development program isn't up to snuff. The real prize is the development program, that's the only guaranteed thing, every thing GTA winners receive after that are bonuses based on how good they are, it's all up to them. But it makes sense, why shouldn't they be able to ditch a driver? We don't want them to have a liability to drag around, of course not. But we still won't know the extent of it till we read the contract, which we'll never do :)
 
Reading this reminded me of an article that came up recently on Autosport, here's a snippet in regard to Lars which should hopefully clear up the confusion/speculation:

Interestingly, there has been a previous precedent of a winner not being able to race.

"In the first we had two winners, Lucas and Lars Schlommer. They went through to Dubai, but before the start the decision was taken that it wouldn't be right to put Lars in the car," Williamson says.

"With him he was fine in club racing, but he couldn't hack it when we pushed him up," comes the verdict of RJM Motorsport team principal Bob Neville. "If he had more time, it could have been different. He basically couldn't handle the complexity and speed of the car. It was a GT2 car, a big step. We wouldn't do that now."

"We train the winners up to International C level and beyond really, and then the Dubai 24 Hour race," Wiltshere says. "Beyond that is really down to how well they perform. They serve their apprenticeship and then go on to the Nissan motorsport ladder. If they're good hopefully they get picked up and put into a further programme.

(link for those of you that subscribe to Autosport+ http://plus.autosport.com/premium/feature/4668/gt-academy-getting-in-the-game/)
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Wardez
I heard from a reliable source that he couldn't stop over revving the engine during downshifts. That he supposedly just couldn't get it done properly for some reason. Sounds trivial, but this is what I heard from another 2008 finalist.
Click to expand...

There was a video showing that. Or was it of Lucas over reving in practice and then didn't have one over rev in the race?
 

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